


Against All Odds

by Joe_Reaves



Category: The Professionals
Genre: First Time, M/M, Sappy, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-10
Updated: 2010-04-10
Packaged: 2017-10-08 20:43:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joe_Reaves/pseuds/Joe_Reaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray Doyle is leaving CI5 and Bodie has to find out why before it's too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Against All Odds

I'm not sure why I chose that particular time to leave CI5. Maybe I'd been shot at one too many times that year, or one too many of the bad guys got away, or maybe I'd lost one too many friends. All I know is after seven years of the Cow's "alley fight," I'd had enough, and when it came time to re-sign my contract, I couldn't do it. Cowley didn't waste his breath trying to change my mind, just took my gun and badge and wished me well. He's a canny old bird, probably seen this coming for a long time, longer than me even. As I'd reached the end of my contract, I didn't have to give notice or anything, so there I was. One minute I was 4.5, half of CI5's top team, the next I was just Raymond Doyle, currently unemployed and, since my flat was CI5 owned, soon to be homeless. I'd been home about an hour when the buzzer went. I knew who it was even before I opened the door. Bodie. And not in the best of tempers either. Hardly surprising, since I hadn't even bothered to say goodbye to him. Does that sound strange? My best mate and I'd have left without telling him if I could? Maybe, but if I'm honest, he was part of the reason I was leaving; a big part. Oh, the rest of what I said was true and everything, but on it's own it wouldn't have been enough to make me quit. No, the real reason I was leaving, or should that be running away? The real reason I was leaving was Bodie and the way I felt about him, or rather the way he didn't feel about me. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the door. Before I'd even got it properly open, Bodie had pushed past me into the flat.

"Not packed yet? I'm surprised. After all, you seem so bloody eager to leave. Planning on telling me, were you? Or were you just gonna do a moonlit flit and leave me to find out from Cowley or hear it on the office grapevine? Which, by the way, is how I found out. My own damn partner, ex-partner perhaps I should say, and I had to find out from Murph that you'd quit."

He paused to draw breath and I took advantage - if I'd waited for him to wind down we'd probably still be there. "I'm sorry mate. Was gonna tell you." Yeah right, just after hell froze over. "Just didn't know how. Wouldn't keep something like this from you." Course not.

I don't have any secrets from Bodie, not if you overlook the minor fact that I'm heart and soul in love with him and that watching him work his way through every willing bird under forty in London is slowly killing me. But other than that, no secrets at all.

Bodie glared at me and looked like he was going to disagree, but whatever he had been going to say, he swallowed it and instead asked, "So, what are you going to do now, sunshine?"

That's when I knew he'd forgiven me. He never uses any of his little names for me when he's pissed. I couldn't believe it. I'd lied to him and intended to run out on him, and he knew it, but he'd still forgiven me. Just like that. It's hardly surprising I'd fallen in love with the man. "Tomorrow I'm gonna find my self somewhere else to live and after that? Who knows? Thought maybe I'd travel around for a bit, do some sketching maybe. It's been a long time since I had a proper holiday. Tonight, however, I'm taking me best mate out for a meal and a drink somewhere. How about it?"

A grin slowly spread across Bodie's face. "You paying?"

"Course, said so, didn't I?"

"Then what are you waiting for? There's this great new Chinese place, just opened up on the High Street ..."

 

**********

By the time we went home some time early the next morning, we were both more than a little drunk. So it wasn't until the next day that I found the tape. I'd just got into my car to go looking for a flat when I saw a cassette and a note on the passenger seat, where Bodie had been sitting only a few hours earlier. I slipped the tape into the player and opened the note.

 

Miss you already, sunshine!

 

Bodie

Then the tape started to play and I had to pull into the side of the road as my vision blurred.

 

How can I just let you walk away,  
Just let you leave without a trace,  
When I stand here taking every breath with you,  
You're the only one who really knew me at all.

How can you just walk away from me,  
When all I can do is watch you leave,  
Cos we've shared the laughter and the pain,  
And even shared the tears,  
You're the only one who really knew me at all.

So take a look at me now,  
Cos there's just an empty space,  
And there's nothing left here to remind me,  
Just the memory of your face,  
Take a look at me now,  
Cos there's just an empty space,  
And you coming back to me is against all odds,  
And that's what I've got to face.

I wish I could just make you turn around,  
Turn around and see me cry,  
There's so much I need to say to you,  
So many reasons why,  
You're the only one who really knew me at all.

So take a look at me now,  
Cos there's just an empty space,  
And there's nothing left here to remind me,  
Just the memory of your face,  
Take a look at me now,  
Cos there's just an empty space,  
But to wait for you, well, that's all I can do,  
And that's what I've got to face.

Take a good look at me now,  
Cos I'll still be standing here,  
And you coming back to me is against all odds,  
That's the chance I've got to take.

Just take a look at me now.

 

Oh Bodie, you stupid sod, why didn't you tell me? Not that I could really blame him, since I'd never given him the slightest hint of my own feelings. I wiped my eyes and pulled back out into the traffic, headed this time for Bodie's flat. I checked my watch. Thank God for days off; with nowhere in particular to go, Bodie should still be in bed at this time. I leant on the bell for several minutes before Bodie finally answered the door. He didn't look like he'd slept much the previous night and, at a guess, I'd say he was pretty hung over. In fact, he looked like death warmed over, and not all that well warmed over at that. It looked like I'd have to wait a while before telling him how I felt. Oh well, I'd waited so long already, it wouldn't kill me to wait a little longer. I closed the door behind me and gave him a push towards the bathroom.

"Take a shower, mate. I'll fix you something for that hangover."

"Do you always have to be so bloody cheerful first thing in the morning? It's not natural."

I just grinned and gave him another shove towards the shower. "Go on. Do as I say and you'll be as right as rain in a few minutes."

He went quietly - a sure sign he felt awful. Bodie never did anything quietly. Just another one of his annoying habits, and God knows he's got enough of them. But somehow despite them all, he grows on you after a while. I smiled at that thought as I put the finishing touches to the patent Doyle hangover cure and buttered some toast. By the time Bodie got out of the shower, I was adding milk to his tea and the hangover remedy and the toast were already on the table. I turned round and immediately forgot what I'd been going to say. He just stood there, hair still damp from the shower, dressed in, as far as I could tell, nothing but a towelling dressing gown, a short towelling dressing gown - and he has the nerve to accuse me of dressing to catch the eye!

"Is that for me, sunshine?"

I shook myself to rid my head of the images that dressing gown was conjuring up. "What ... oh the tea. Yeah, the toast, too. When you've finished it you'll feel better."

I waited with badly concealed impatience until he'd finished. All the time making small talk, not something I'm particularly good at the best of times. When at last he put the mug down after draining the last of his tea, I knew it was time to get to the real reason I'd come round. "Look, I didn't come here to talk about the weather or the football. Got something more important to talk about haven't we?" Bodie started to look uncomfortable at this. I'd seen him face ticking bombs and armed lunatics without turning a hair, but the thought of actually having to confess how he felt, face to face, was making him look sick - either that or my hangover remedy hadn't worked as well as normal.

"You got the tape, then." Not really a question, more a statement of fact but I nodded anyway. "Before you say anything, Ray, I need you to know that I'm not asking for anything from you. I just ... When I heard you were leaving, it tore me up. I knew I'd never forgive myself if I didn't at least try. I gave you the tape because I needed you to know how I felt ... that I love you."

During the whole speech he hadn't once looked me in the eye. I walked round the table and knelt in front of him. "Bodie ... mate. I need you to look at me." When he didn't move, I took his chin in my hand and gently tilted his head up so I could look him in the eye. I saw that his beautiful blue eyes were suspiciously damp and I think, if it's possible, I fell in love with him all over again, then and there. "Oh, Bodie. Do you really think I'd have come round this morning if I'd been going to say thanks but no thanks? I love you, too, you idiot. Have done for a long time."

He turned his head away then, and squeezed his eyes shut but not in time to stop a tear escaping and slowly running down his cheek. I reached out to wipe it away and then followed my fingers with my lips. "Oh Bodie." Something that sounded suspiciously like a whimper escaped his mouth just before I covered it with my own. My heart started to beat like I was running a race and my head started to spin and I never wanted it to stop, but of course it had to. When lack of oxygen finally forced us to break the kiss, Bodie stood up and pulled me with him.

"Love you, Ray."

"Love you, too, mate, love you, too." As I breathed the words, I undid the belt on the dressing gown and slipped it off his shoulders. "Oh, Bodie." I seemed to be saying that a lot but I'd dreamed about this moment, longed for it, and never really expected dreams to become reality. I ran my hands over his chest, enjoying the way the muscles tensed under my touch and the nipples tightened as I grazed them with my fingers. I moved my hands lower, across the flat abdomen, and then lower still, ignoring the hard cock that was begging for my attention. I dropped to my knees again as my fingers glided down the outside of the muscular thighs and then slowly back up the inside.

"Ray." I looked up and saw that his head was tossed back, a muscle throbbing in the exposed throat. I slowly leant forwards and licked the moisture from the tip of his cock. "Ray ... please." I noticed that his knuckles were white where he was gripping the edge of the table. The thought that I could cause him such pleasure took my breath away. I slid my hands up to his hips and, at the same time, I slid my mouth down his cock, taking him in as deeply as I could. I licked my way back up to the tip and then engulfed him again. "Oh God, Ray, I'm going to ..." I acknowledged his warning only by increasing my efforts and moments later he exploded with an incoherent cry. I released his now limp cock and rose to my feet again where our mouths met in another fierce kiss.

"I think we should take this party to the bedroom, don't you Angelfish?" Bodie chuckled, the familiar twinkle back in his eyes. "And you should lose some of those clothes."

"Only some?" I queried as I led the way down the hall.

"Yeah, you can keep your socks on."


End file.
